In the processes of manufacturing semiconductor devices, semiconductor substrates such as silicon wafers or compound semiconductor wafers have recently tended to have large diameters and become thin. A thin semiconductor substrate having a large diameter may be bent or broken when it is transported or ground. For this reason, after a support substrate is bonded to a semiconductor substrate for supporting the semiconductor substrate, a transportation or grinding process for TSV (Through-silicon via) process is performed on the bonded semiconductor substrate, and then the support substrate is separated from the semiconductor substrate.
For example, there is known a technique in which a semiconductor substrate is held using a first holding part while a support substrate is held using a second holding part, and the support substrate is separated from the semiconductor substrate by moving the second holding part in the direction in which the second holding part is separated from the semiconductor substrate.
Here, a suction holding part such as a porous chuck is used as the first holding part for holding the semiconductor substrate, for example.
However, if foreign substances are adhered to the holding surface of the suction holding part when the semiconductor substrate is held in the suction holding part, defects such as breakage may be caused since stress is applied to the semiconductor substrate due to the foreign substances.
In addition, the above defects are not limited to the case where the support substrate is separated from the semiconductor substrate, but may occur when the semiconductor substrate is held by the suction holding part in the semiconductor manufacturing device.